America's Greatest Comics Vol 1 1
Supporting Characters: * Adversaries: * * four henchmen Other Characters: * Scientist Hugo * one Admiral * one General * three MPs Locations: * ** , ** , ** , Items: * Z-metal Vehicles: * submersible tractor-submarine three-man warship * submersible tractor-submarine fast one-man vehicle | Synopsis2 = Caption: “Murder lurks in the back streets – and one by one victims disappear into nowhere – never to be found again! What is the incredible mystery of the Invisible Man? Only Bulletman can answer that stirring question – only he can solve The Riddle of the Ages!” At Midtown Bank at closing time, the sole teller on duty is robbed and murdered by an invisible robber, and calls the police before he dies. At Police HQ Jim Barr and Susan Kent are on hand as the call comes in; they duck out and change clothes and fly to Midtown Bank, where the police are quite stumped: no prints, no weapon, no clues. The Flying Detectives cruise around the tougher parts of town, looking for any kind of disturbance, and land in an alley, where the Invisible Man just happens to be. He mocks them, and Bulletman dupes him into briefly appearing before them, as a ghostly, radiant outline, then vanishing again. Stymied, the Bullets fly away to work on a plan for trapping this guy. After they are gone, the same strange glow again radiates, takes on the form of a man, and now appears to be a man in a 3-piece business suit, gloating like a maniac about how invisible and uncatchable he is, then turning and fading into the shadows of darkness. Back at Police HQ, Jim Barr reads (in “The Kingston Daily” newspaper) that the Invisible Man has been doing more crimes, and that a $10,000 reward has been posted for him by the State Government. Jim has a plan which he whispers to Susan. In the next day’s papers is a fake press release about a shipment of gold being trucked into town over a particular route. When he reads this story, the Invisible Man fades himself from sight, then has a conference with his boys. Five well-dressed gangsters file nervously in and get their marching orders for tomorrow’s truck robbery. The next day, on the road into town, over the North Mountains, the two-truck convoy stops, and one driver impulsively breaks regulations by picking up a married couple of elderly hitch-hikers. Further on up the road, a large number of gangsters opens fire on the truck, and Mickey the security rifleman is shot dead. But the elderly hitch-hikers turn out to be Bulletman and Bulletgirl, and one short melee later the bad guys are mostly beaten and fleeing on foot. But the Invisible Man is here! He moves next to the second truck, shoots one guard dead and knocks out the second with a pistol handle. He gets into the gold truck and drives away with it, and soon is pursued by the Flying Detectives. Then the truck seems to vanish. For the moment, they’re stymied again. That’s twice now he’s gotten away from them. Back at Police HQ, Sergeant Kent and Officer Clancey are also stumped. Kent calls in Jim Barr, and Barr seems to get an idea right there on the spot, but doesn’t tell Kent what it is, before he runs out of the room. In the lab, he tells Susan all about it, and according to Barr’s theory, the I-man has to use sunlight to make his invisibility gag work, so he proposes to lure him out at night. So that night Bulletman and Bulletgirl fly back to the scene of the gold-truck hijacking, out in the secluded mountains. Then they watch the road, a pedestrian comes along and knocks at a particular spot in the steep escarpment on one side of the road. A giant rock slab hinges upward and admits the man, then begins to close. The Flying Detectives swoop down but the enormous door has already slammed shut. Inside, the Invisible Man is mightily displeased to learn that his secret HQ has been found, and deploys three henchmen (Butch, Tony, and Croaker) into positions from which to ambush Bulletman, who would certainly be along very soon. Next thing you know, the Flying Detectives have crashed through the door and are ready to mix it up with the gangsters. The Invisible Man, now appearing as a radiant area of white light, orders his guys to open fire. Another short melee ensues and at the end of it all of the gunsels are strewn about, only the Invisible Man remains. Bulletman throws something at the only light fixture in the room, breaking it. Once the room is dark, the Invisible Man is relatively more visible, so Bulletman can see him whipping out his pistol, and punches him out before he can even shoot it once. Then he finds the invisibility-rendering invention, and either it’s already destroyed when he finds it or he destroys it himself. Either way, Bulletgirl thinks it’s a shame that this device couldn’t be put to some good use. Then as usual they fly away before the police arrive. | Appearing2 = Featured Characters: * * Supporting Characters: * Sergeant Kent * Officer Clancey Adversaries: * ** at least five henchmen Other Characters: * Mickey, security rifleman * another unnamed security rifleman * two truck drivers Locations: * , , Items: * Vehicles: * | Synopsis3 = | Appearing3 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * General Milton Adversaries: * Other Characters: * Locations: * Items: * Vehicles: * | Synopsis4 = | Appearing4 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Adversaries: * Other Characters: * Locations: * Items: * Vehicles: * | Synopsis5 = | Appearing5 = Featured Characters: * * Supporting Characters: * Miss Wade Adversaries: * :* :* :* :* :* :* :* Other Characters: * Locations: * Items: * Vehicles: * | Notes = * Marvel Comics has an ad in this issue. * "Ghost of the Deep" is reprinted in Shazam Archives, Volume 3. * We don’t find out what happened to the rest of the Ghost of the Deep’s high-tech tanks, or how many more of them there were, or the plans for their construction, or the forumula for Z-metal. One copy of the "fast" version was captured by Billy Batson, who would probably turn it over to the military authorities. What became of this technology afterwards is unknown. * The newspaper at Jim Barr’s office is "The Kingston Daily (something)". So is Kingston the name of Bulletman’s contextualizing city? | Trivia = * An African American man appears in "The Death Battalion" as a house servant, Pinky calls him "darky" a common boy-slang for African Americans at the time. The man's actions and speech pattern can be deemed offensive even for the time period as well as being attacked by The Ghost, a man clad in a white hooded point cap and gown. No mention of the servant was ever made again. | Recommended = * Whiz Comics Vol 1 * Master Comics Vol 1 * Captain Marvel Adventures Vol 1 | Links = * Read the complete issue at the Digital Comic Museum. * or read the complete issue at Comic Book Plus. }}